Hwīt Geōltīd

Swefn ic geseah snāwhwītes geōles,
Geōlam gelīce þe wē gēo cūðon —
Bēamas glysnodon, bearn hlosnodon
Hīeran on hrīme hrædwægnes bellan.

Swefn ic geseah snāwhwītes geōles,
Þā ic geōlcartan georne awrāt:
Blīðan ond beorhtan bēon þīne dagas,
Ēadige ēac ēalla þīne geōl!

Malicorne lay down the funky disco branle in 1979

The speaker notes from my talk last month are here.

Lightweight Markup Languages

I'm doing an introductory talk on lightweight markup languages for Write the Docs North in Manchester on 23rd Jan.

Lightweight Markup Languages

I heard John Dipper play his solo variations on Bacca Pipes, I don't know, about 10 years ago, and when he finished I went [h↓h↓h↓h↓h↓] (you have to imagine a huge intake of air) because I had literally forgotten to breathe for about 2 minutes. He was so good.

John Dipper: Musician, composer, teacher, instrument-maker

City Life

30 years to the day since I first moved to Manchester. (Astonishingly.) Here's the City Life Student Special that I picked up on my first day.

The Bicycle Doctor — still going strong.

A bit of linguistics. Loving the 80s typesetting in this.

Le  Jive Hive , qu'est-ce que c'est?

Decoy Records! Sadly gone. Vinyl Exchange is still there.

Vegetarian restaurants. That's yer lot in 1988. On the Eighth Day is still going. As is the current incarnation of Greens, but much more upmarket now.

Band on the Wall! Open again now.

Agraman, the Human Anagram! And I remember Buzz magazine too.

It was... the '80s. A strange and distant time, but perhaps not so different from today.

On my first night I went to the International 2. I decided pretty soon after that I wasn't into clubs. Let's look at the pub reviews.

Entering the Ducie is like entering the 33rd County.

Wander slightly further up Oxford Road and you'll come to the Salisbury. Wander a little further and you're past it.

Strangest pub in Hulme is definitely the Spinners, where little drinking takes place but a deep sense of inner calm and considerable human understanding prevails.

The Lass O' Gowrie [...] Treat LOG 42 with respect!

Ah man. Happy days. The pub is still there, but they don't brew their own beer any more.

Roses are red
Bananas are bent
I'm giving up Facebook
and Twitter for Lent

Miss this trail.

Fun commute!

Lovelocks on the Rochdale Canal.

R.I.P. Ursula K. Le Guin

Only in silence the word :-(

Ursula K. Le Guin, Acclaimed for Her Fantasy Fiction, Is Dead at 88

I picked up The Farthest Shore at a second hand book fair when I was 11. Expecting standard 60s sword and sorcery, but it turned out to be an astonishing meditation on language, mental illness, addiction, the necessity of death, what it means to be good, what it means to be happy... I didn't get all this out of it at first, maybe, but it got under my skin and stayed with me.

My favourite book of hers is probably Always Coming Home. The story itself takes up less than half the book; the rest, field notes from a future culture. Is it post-apocalyptic or post-singularity? There are even recipes, which I tried. They're pretty good.

Oh 💩 yeah, taxes, thanks for the reminder.

Whew

Midwinter

Taken from the top of Bryn Celli Ddu earlier this year.

Plotting the vectors of the fundamental interconnectedness of all things.

Strange Lovers from Methera and Mats Rehnman on Vimeo.

Live from Fiddles on Fire, The Sage Gateshead, May 2013.

View from the tram. Shortly after I took these, someone was sick at my feet. Oh this town, this crazy town.

Rupert Murdoch... is now the single largest shareholder in Disney.

Disney buys Fox in all-stock deal, making Rupert Murdoch the largest shareholder in the company

We had to go back to find the picture on the other side!

Stockport Rocks - Paint, Hide & Find 👩🏻‍🎨🎨👨🏼‍🎨

Solidarity

What are your favourite solidarity terms? As in, excuse me mate / pal / buddy, you've dropped your ticket. Are any of them gender-neutral?

Pal is from the Romani word for brother.

Mate (according to Wiktionary) is an old Germanic term for one with whom you share food (meat). But my intuition tells me that mate (as a solidarity term) is probably not gender-neutral.

Buddy is usually assumed to be baby talk for brother, but again Wiktionary says it may be a comrade, one with whom one shares booty (hmmm).

I've used my friend as a gender-neutral solidarity term. It's hard to think of others.

Poppy mural on Sandhurst Road, Didsbury.

Saw this on the sat nav today and thought of Pilgrims' Way.

Honoured to be part of the 8-piece big band for Hekety's 20th birthday celebrations.